The City of Vancouver has spent millions to renovate City Hall, including nearly $317,000 on high end designer furniture. Global News confirmed that the high end furniture was being ordered as late as May, after Mayor Kennedy Stewart publicly claimed that the city is "bleeding money."
In a statement, the City said that the budget for this was set in December, before COVID. Some of the chairs are from Eames by Herman Miller, and retail for up to $650 each. The desks are also by Herman Miller, and retail up to $1,500 each.
3 truck loads of furniture for Vancouver City Hall.
— Jordan Armstrong (@jarmstrongbc) September 16, 2020
The red plastic chairs are Eames by Herman Miller — and retail for up to $650 each.
The desk chairs are also Herman Miller — and, depending on customization, retail for up to $1,500 each.
Watch @GlobalBC News Hour at 6. pic.twitter.com/TnYIOoniPg
Stewart also asked the Provincial Government for a $200 million dollar bailout. This led to harsh criticism, against which the Vancouver Mayor defended himself by stating he was unaware of these purchases.
"I was disappointed, like others yesterday, to see that this purchase had been made when we were in really quite tough financial times," stated Mayor Kennedy on Thursday.
You're being very nice.
— Kris Sims (@kris_sims) September 17, 2020
But:
The buck stops with Mayor and Council, always.
The staff do not get to make these decisions exclusively, they must be answerable to the elected representatives who are in turn answerable to the PEOPLE of Vancouver. Both politicians & staff know this.
Stewart also passed the blame to the City Manager, since City Council approves budgets and the Manager supposedly allocates funds accordingly. The only issue is that City Manager, Sadhu Johnston, coincidentally resigned from his position on Tuesday.
"To see the City spend this kind of money in the middle of a Pandemic, when we are all freaking out, is so embarrassing and inappropriate," states former Councillor, George Affleck.
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